Avatar The Downfall of Aang
by riannepotter
Summary: As Sozins Comet finally shows, Aang must battle Ozai, he must put everything he has learnt into defeating him, everyone has complete faith in him, he cannot lose. But what happens if he does lose...?
1. Azula's Defeat

Avatar; The Downfall of Aang

Katara pulled herself back from tying the chains together, knowing Azula was still and possibly even more dangerous, she was furious, crazy. Katara scampered back trying to hold her stance and catch her breath. She could feel the energy of her water bending coursing through her veins as she tried to calm her breathing and not vent her frustration and anger out on a now thrashing Azula. But then her attention was completely averted as she remembered something, _Zuko_.

She looked over to him, immediately leaving Azula where she was and running to see what the damage was. _He had saved her life_. She thought it was incredibly arrogant of him to tempt her into using Lightening when they all knew how dangerous it could be if something went wrong, and it did, look where it had got them. She couldn't believe he had done it, Zuko, the son of Firelord Ozai, the most evil and dangerous man in the whole of the four nations _had saved her life_! She dropped beside him and looked at his body. Her heart dropped, the first thought '_he's dead'_ flashing in her mind as she looked at the wound from where the lightening had struck on his stomach. Katara had only ever seen a wound like this before, when Aang had been hit by the very same person whilst in the Avatar state. Her heart hurt as she thought of Aang, wondering whether he was okay. She forced herself to push this thought out of her mind, feeling the worry wind its way around her mind. No, she needed to do something. She looked at his body frantically, the wound was open and deep red with oncoming blood and she tried not to feel nauseated by this. She looked at his face, his long hair parting to reveal his face, now seeming not so hostile as it usually did but more innocent. When Aang was hurt she had healed him with the water from the Spirit Oasis, but that was weeks ago, she had used it all. Did she have enough power in her after the exhausting battle with Azula, to heal him? She had to try, if it wasn't for him, she would be dead, if it wasn't for him, Aang wouldn't have known fire bending. She shook Aang out of her head again and fiddled around for her satchel, her mind going crazy. Zuko had jumped in front of the lightening, there had to be a chance he had re-directed it, mustn't there? He knew what he was doing, Katara didn't know a better fire bender than Zuko, other than perhaps Iroh and maybe Aang. She bent down and hovered her ear over his slightly parted lips, praying he was alive. He _had_ to be…

There was slight breathing escaping from his mouth, he _was_ alive, but barely. He had to have re-directed the light or else he would have died, maybe she _could_ save him. She had to try. She found her satchel finally and opened it. She moved her hands to bend the small amount of water out, feeling the power surge to her fingertips as she moved it through the air and over Zuko's wound. _'Please heal' _She pleaded in her mind, closing her mind and concentrating on allowing her Chi energy to flow through her body to her fingertips to heal his wound. She felt the energy in her hands, a familiar sensation she was used to when healing and allowed herself to open her eyes and heal the wound. She felt the power being sucked out of it, the heat from Zuko's body returning. The water catalyst she was using entered his body and the skin on his stomach began to heal, closing up and leaving a nasty looking scar. She let out a sigh of relief and let the energy flow through her body again, she felt exhausted and only now realised the racket Azula was making. She looked over at her to see her trashing about wildly, bound to the chains and screaming at the top of her voice. She didn't even seem to be noticing her brother resuming consciousness in front of her. Katara looked down at Zuko and saw he most definitely was awakening. His eyes snapped open suddenly and he let out a gasp. Katara put her hands on his shoulders and prevented him from getting up. His eyes found hers and when she let go of his shoulders he sat up and looked at his stomach, then back at Katara.

"You saved me," it wasn't a question, his voice was one of awe and Katara smiled, fighting the temptation to roll her eyes. He lifted his hand and ran it across his wound and winced, he looked back at her, "Thank you,"

"You're the one who saved _my _life, Zuko, I should be thanking you," she replied, helping him sit up. There was an infuriated scream from the right of him and they both turned their attention to his sister who was now staring at them with nothing but absolute rage in her eyes. She fought against the chains and then something amazing happened, she shot blue-hot fire out of her mouth as she screamed, trying to reach the two on the ground, but her attempts were feeble as she was weak. Zuko even attempted a low laugh.

"You did that?" he asked Katara as he stood up, but his body was weak and he flinched, falling sideways, Katara caught him and forced him to put his arm around her shoulders.

"I think you underestimate my abilities," she muttered to him and he laughed which was cut short as he looked into the air. Katara followed his gaze and felt her jaw drop in awe. The air above them was filled with an amazing blue light clashing with an orange one, which filled the air and travelled onto the sky above. Neither of them spoke as they wondered what it could be, but they knew what it was of course, it was Aang. Something was happening. Katara felt panic rise and she knew something was wrong, Aang needed help, she needed to find him, but she knew there would be no time. The air seemed to shift and Katara watched as the red light seemed to swallow the blue. An aweful sense of dread washed over her…this was it…this was the end…whatever happened next would make the future of the earth. She felt her heart pang for Aang, she wanted to be with him, knowing that he might need her. She could feel the connection between them both growing weaker, she could feel _Aang_ growing weaker…no, this couldn't be happening…

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of red light and the air was silent around them. Katara felt something leave her body, something washed over her as the realisation of what just happened crashed over her. She dropped to her knees and let out a cry of grief, burying her head in her hands, feeling Zuko next to her, his hand on her back asking "What is it?"

But she couldn't bring herself to say it, her whole body aching, tears escaping uncontrollably. She couldn't admit it to herself, she may be wrong…But she knew, deep down, she could feel it in her heart…

"Aang, he's gone."


	2. Sokka's Anger

"Sokka, we need to go, we need to get out of here," Suki whispered to Sokka who was on the ground, his head in his hands, shaking. She spread her arms around his shoulders and bowed her head, feeling his body shaking with cries. But Sokka didn't hear her, he couldn't possibly think of anything other than what had just happened. _Aang_. They had all seen it, Aang was doing something to Ozai, light shooting from both of their eyes, Sokka had never seen anything _like_ it. The red light from Ozai battling against the blue from Aang, it was overpowering, Sokka almost turned his eyes away when…when it happened. The red light pushed Aangs away, and something happened, a large explosion of fire and Sokka saw Aangs small, feeble body fly into the air, and fall, fall down. He prayed for Aang so show any signs of life, to airbend his way back to Ozai, but he simply fell, motionless…_dead_. Sokka let out a cry of sadness as he recalled this, not _Aang_! He couldn't bring himself to think of what was going to happen now, he couldn't. All he could think of was Aang. He couldn't be dead, Sokka wouldn't allow it.

"No!" he roared, snapping his head up, looking towards the place where the fight was, "He's _not dead_!"

Suki took her arms from around him and looked at him sympathetically, her eyes filling with tears. She looked at Toph for some advice, but saw she was simply stood with her fists uncurled and her head hung, her shoulders were shaking. Sokka stood up aggressively and lunged for his boomerang, throwing it harshly into the air, screaming.

"HE'S NOT DEAD, I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT, HE'S _NOT DEAD_!" he was yelling, and Suki didn't know what to do. Then, Sokka caught his boomerang and started to run.

"Sokka!" she screamed, starting to run after him, he swung back around to face her, his face wild with emotions. She stopped and dropped her arm which she had raised to grab him.

"_I'M GOING TO KILL HIM_!" He yelled ferociously, signalling somewhere above his head wildly. Suki felt her heart drop. She couldn't let him act rationally, she couldn't let him get killed. Her heart was aching for Aang but she knew if she lost Sokka she wouldn't be able to live with herself. She knew he was hurting, she couldn't even begin to think of how he must be feeling, but she had to stop him, he couldn't take on the Firelord alone, he needed to realise that there was nothing he could do to bring Aang back. He had now begun to run again, Suki watched wordlessly, not knowing what to do.

Then something happened, Sokka ran into a wall of rock which hadn't been there before. He fell back onto his backside and turned wildly to somewhere behind Suki. Suki followed his gaze. Toph had moved her foot and was now returning her stance to a somewhat weakened pose.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, TOPH? AANG'S - " Sokka began yelling, his face shining with tears, before Toph interrupted him from underneath the curtains of her hanging in front of her face.

"Gone, I know!" she shouted, her voice wobbling. Her hands curled into fists and the rock which had jutted up from the ground returned to normal. Sokka was silenced. Toph spoke again, "Exactly what you need to realise, Sokka, he's- he's gone, and we can't change that - "

"But we can!" Sokka shouted back, a lot more controlled now.

"There's nothing we can do, Ozai is too strong now, we need to re-group with the rest," Toph spoke, raising her head to them, her glazed blind eyes were watery and there was tear tracks on her cheeks. She was right, they all knew it, but Sokka refused it, standing up.

"No," Sokka shook his head, "I'm not leaving him. Aang is my friend, he's like a _brother_ to me, I just- I just cant leave him," his voice cracked and he ducked his head. Suki walked forward quickly and put her arms around him, feeling his body shaking with sobs. Sokka leaned into her and put his arms around her.

"I know," Suki said softly, and she saw in the sky an object flying closer to them, she tried not to show any sign of her seeing this, knowing she was the only one who could, but then as she recognised what it was she let her body relax. Appa was flying down to them.


	3. Appa's Flight

Sokka looked up when he heard Appa's low grunt and felt him settle near them. His heart leapt as he thought for one crazy moment that when he looked up he would see Aang's happy face beaming at him from the top of Appa. But his hopes were crushed when he saw one of the faces which belonged to a person who he had hated just a few days ago. Zuko was sat on Appa holding the reins with an expression of utmost sadness. This only seemed to enrage him. It was _his_ father who killed Aang! He broke free of Suki and began to storm towards their new arrivals. He kept his eyes on Zuko as he lowered himself from Appa.

"You - !" he began, but was stopped when something flew into him from the front. He looked down to see his sister crying into his chest. Whatever feelings he was feeling towards Zuko at that moment vanished because he knew, if anyone knew what he was feeling, it was Katara.

The barrier which was stopping him from letting all his emotions go seemed to collapse at his sister's embrace. He knew she was feeling, if not more, grief for Aang. He was gone. The bubbly, childish little boy who they had both found those many months ago in the ice was gone. They would never see his bright shining eyes ever again, or hear his perky laugh or play stupid little games with him. It was all too much to bear.

Appa let out a groan of despair and Suki knew that it was just as hard for him, he must have known what had happened, him and Aang were a team. She didn't know what to do. It was quiet. Zuko lay a comforting hand on Appa and lowered his head. Suki swallowed a lump which was rising in her throat and the corners of her eyes burned before she felt the tears rolling down her face.

"We should find him," Toph spoke breaking the silence after a few devastating, mourning minutes. Everyone looked towards her, she was facing them, then she rubbed her eyes vigorously against her forearm and faced them, "The least we can do for him is find his body, he would appreciate that,"

Suki and Zuko murmured in agreement and they both shared a sympathetic glance towards the siblings in the middle. Suki walked towards them both and lay a hand on either of their backs.

"I know it's hard," she said softly, "I don't know half of the grief you're experiencing, but I agree with Toph, we should find his body,"

They both broke apart slowly, and Sokka put his arm around his sisters shoulder, leading her over to Appa.

"Help her up," Sokka spoke weakly to Zuko, who immediately helped. Sokka turned to Suki and held out his hand. His face was one of deep sadness and Suki felt her stomach drop. She smiled gently and he closed his eyes. She took his hand and he pulled her into a hug. Suki saw Toph being helped onto a grieving Appa by Zuko before she closed her eyes.

"There's still hope, right?" she whispered, not knowing whether she wanted to know the answer. Sokka pulled out of the hug and looked at her in the eyes.

"Without Aang, I don't know, I just don't know."

The flight to find Aangs body was a sorrowful one, Suki having to lead the way, being the only one who had seen it and who could actually speak. Sokka and Katara were sat together, Sokka's face staring up into the sky and Katara's buried in her arms, she hadn't looked up, her body was shaking uncontrollably. There was a time where Suki had to face forward whilst she cried, thinking of Aang, how he would usually be where she was, his laugh ringing in their ears, she just couldn't believe that he was gone. She couldn't bring herself to think of what Ozai was doing now. She just needed to find Aang, for herself and for everyone else. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, feeling the tears drop onto her hands which were clutched around the reins. They were coming up to the rocky mountains of which showed the battle between Aang and Ozai. She felt someone sit beside her. When she looked up she was surprised to see Zuko sat there, staring forwards. He turned his gaze to her and she tried to smile sorrowfully.

He shook his head slowly.

"He can't be dead," Zuko said gruffly, his voice full of misery, Suki was shocked to hear such compassion in his words and she wondered if he liked Aang more than he let on. They had been through a lot, not as much as Sokka and Katara, but she got the hint that Zuko felt the grief a lot more than he'd expected to.

"Is there…a chance, maybe?" She spoke quietly, looking towards Zuko, who's eyes widened, "You know, a chance he's still alive?"

He didn't answer, pondering this. He hadn't thought about it. He had just assumed there was no way…but was there? Could Aang be alive? He stopped himself before he could let his mind get carried away, he simply couldn't. If Aang was alive then they would know about it, he was the _Avatar_. Zuko shook his head, knowing he couldn't express his thoughts without giving what looked like false hope. He hadn't known what the light that filled the sky was, but he could only guess whatever that was, it was what killed him. He winced at that thought. But what _if_ Aang was alive? None of them knew for certain…maybe it could be like the time he and Azula fought against him (he winced again, remembering this experience), they had all thought the Avatar to be dead then, what if it was the same this time?

He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Appa start to descend.


	4. Discovery

Katara looked up, her head aching from crying. She didn't think she'd be able to look at Aang's dead body when they found him because looking at it would just confirm that he was actually gone. She didn't know whether she could take emotionally take it. She was considering asking them to turn back but she couldn't let herself. Knowing that Aang's body was down there, lying defenceless on the ground was heartbreaking. She felt the knot in her throat rise again and buried her head once more. She couldn't think of anything other than Aang. His face, his voice, his laugh, she ached to see him, to hug him one last time, to feel his body against hers, so full of power yet so gentle. She thought of when they kissed, and she let out another sob, and screwed her eyes up, painful tears now falling. Every hearbeat of hers hurt, she wanted so much to turn back time and to be with him, to prevent his death. _His death_… Katara didn't want to believe it. But she couldn't feel him anymore. She couldn't feel his presence within her, their connection, their Chi which flowed together was now gone, washed away by grief. _'Aang,'_ She thought desperately, _'Please, please speak to me, you can't be dead'_.

But there was nothing. She felt her body weaken. _'Aang,'_ she simply thought, and then she felt her bending power stir within her, _'Please, help me speak to him,' _she begged herself hopelessly, knowing she was being crazy. Her mind was overcome with grief, she couldn't feel anything else. _'Please clear my mind of this grief'_, she begged her Chi. She didn't know if it was possible, but she just wanted an empty mind, so she could stop thinking of Aang for just a second, to try and pull herself out of the depression she could feel herself spiralling into, to try and figure out just what was going to happen next.

Suddenly, she felt a huge surge of energy around her body, and her mind went blank…and she felt it. Just for a second, she felt it, it caused her to lose her concentration and the grief flooded back into her body. But this time it was different, she felt something else mixed with it, the tiniest bit of _hope_. Because she had _felt_ it again. The connection she had thought had gone, been broken by death was _still there_. She could feel him! It was weak, extremely weak, so weak she knew she could have imagined it. But she was almost certain she had felt it. She tried to tell herself she was being stupid, she had made herself feel it, she could have just been trying to convince herself it was there out of desperation.

But she'd _felt _it…she couldn't shake it off. She had stopped crying, and she looked up, around at her brother and the others. Each one of them was crying…a part from one. Zuko. He was looking down at the ground with an unreadable expression on his face. Had he felt it too?

As if he felt her eyes on him, he turned his head to look at her. They shared a moment of slight understanding and just as they broke contact, Appa hit the floor. Everyone looked up slowly. Katara didn't know what to feel, she didn't want to get her hopes up when she knew it was almost impossible. What if Aang _was_ dead? She would never be able to speak to him again…The grief slammed into her again and she felt her eyes burn.

Zuko stood up.

"I'll go and find him," he spoke in a soft, mourning voice. Katara got up too, and everyone looked at her.

"Katara, sit down," Sokka said, his voice sounding hopeless. Katara felt her emotions rising. She stared at her brother. Suki turned around to them and Toph had now sat up. Katara shook her head, tears flowing again, she didn't think she could bring herself to speak. Sokka opened his mouth to speak, his face beginning to contort with frustration, but Suki spoke.

"We'll all go," she said, and looked at everyone for agreement. It took a few seconds, but everyone nodded, standing up and slowly getting off Appa. Katara refused help, not wanting to speak to anyone, she just wanted to find Aang, she needed to. She began walking before everyone was ready, not knowing which way she was going, but her feet dragging her desperately, she heard them shout her name but decided to ignore them. For one mad moment, she opened her mouth to shout his name. She realised it was useless. She didn't know what to do. She fell to her knees.

Everyone ran over to where Katara was knelt and stopped. Sokka put his hand on her shoulder and everyone bent their heads. Toph was behind the group.

"We need to work together to find him, Katara," Sokka spoke, and Katara simply nodded. But none of them knew where to start. Usually Aang would be the one who would start them off, the one with the ideas. And Zuko was the one who was the top 'Avatar Hunter', if he didn't know what to do to find him, they were pretty much doomed. But they couldn't give up. Just as Katara went to stand up, Toph yelled.

"Don't move!"

Everyone adopted battle stances staring around to find the source of Toph's interruption, but they couldn't see anyone.

"No!" Toph said, they all turned their heads to her to see her face screwed up with concentration, "It's not an enemy…I think I can feel something,"

She shifted her feet a few inches and everyone hardly dared to breathe, knowing if something was there, it could be bad. None of them thought they had the energy to fight.

"It's familiar," she whispered, her eyes wide open and glossy, she whispered, "no…"

Just then, there was a familiar sound, a cry of some sort of animal, a familiar animal. It called again, and everyone looked into the air and with a leap of their stomachs they saw something familiar flying towards them, a lemur.

"Momo!" Sokka yelled and the flying lemur flew right into Sokka's open arms. He looked around at everyone whilst Momo crawled on his shoulders, "Does that mean…?"

"_Twinkle Toes_!" Toph yelled, and she broke into a run.

Everyone followed Toph, hot on her heels, expectations high, their spirits hopeful. Momo was flying along with them, Katara was scanning her surroundings for any sign of him, any sign at all.

Then she saw him.

His body was on the ground, on his back with his arms and legs spread out. The emotion which surged through Katara was incredible. The most obvious one was relief, along with happiness, sadness and unexplainable grief. The next thing she knew she had fallen down next to his body, followed by everyone else.

He looked so fragile and almost _broken_. She couldn't believe he was there, she had been grieving the loss of him, she thought she'd never see him again, and he was there. She threw her arms over him as if doing this would protect him, she didn't care about anyone or anything at that moment, she just wanted to be with him, to take care of him, to make sure she did everything she could to protect him, even if he wasn't alive…

"Is he…" Suki said quietly. They were around Aang's body, Sokka at one side and Katara at the other, lay on top of him protectively. Toph was stood next to Zuko who was supporting Momo on his shoulders. Toph was in her bending stance, obviously feeling for any sort of movement around them. Suki reached out and took Sokka's hand next to her as they looked at the body. Katara lifted herself off Aang, her expression undreadable as she bent low over his partly open mouth and hovered there for a few long, dreadful seconds. They all waited, looking at her, waiting for her to tell them. Waiting to hear whether he was alive. Sokka could feel the hope, desperation rising as he watched his sisters face. He had to be alive, he didn't think he could go through the grief of losing him again after getting his hopes up…

Katara's eyes were fixed on the sky and without blinking, tears welled up in her eyes and fell into her hair sideways.

"Kata -?" Sokka started.

"He's alive," she whispered and her eyes closed as there were cries of relief and joy around the group. Sokka collapsed onto his back and started to laugh weakly, covering his eyes with his hands while Suki clapped her hands over her mouth. Toph jumped onto Zuko who laughed a little sheepishly, looking over at Katara.

She leant her forehead against Aangs, shaking with the powerful emotion of relief which had shot through her body. She was crying again, but this time out of complete happiness. She had never felt this happy before, she could feel the emotion bubbling up inside of her, after the overwhelming range of emotion before she felt better than she could ever recall. Realisation crashed over her as she comprehended the fact Aang was alive. He was _alive!_

But barely. She snapped into action, getting off him and looking around at the gleaming faces around her and realising just the seriousness of the situation. She looked up at the sky and saw it was even darker than before. Sozen's comet was close.

"We need to get him out," She spoke loudly, surprised at how powerful her voice sounded. Aang was barely conscious, Katara didn't know the seriousness of his condition. Everyone looked at her, "Quick!" she barked, causing Zuko and Sokka to jump up, ready to help carry Aangs almost lifeless body. Katara got up and stepped back, letting the two boys pull Aang's body up and start to carry him over to Appa, who had followed them and was staring at Aang with such intense emotion, Katara felt the lump rise in her throat. As they passed, Katara's eyes caught Zuko's, who was looking at her with a strange expression on his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice sounding full of empathy. Zuko made to stop at Katara, but Sokka carried on walking. Katara nodded, a little shocked. His expression changed, relaxed, and she could have swore she saw a faint smile appear, "Good."

Suki came over and stood next to her with Toph and she took her hand gently.

"He'll be okay, we'll take him to the rest, and see what they can do."


End file.
